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Actor Allan Arbus and his ‘M.A.S.H.’ co-star Loretta Swit onstage at the 7th Annual TV Land Awards in 2009.
Allan Arbus, an actor best known for a recurring role on "M*A*S*H," but also the husband and partner of troubled photography genius Diane Arbus, died Friday at his Los Angeles home. He was 95.
His daughter Amy Arbus confirmed his death. No cause was announced.
Arbus played Major Sidney Freedman on a dozen episodes of "M*A*S*H." Freedman was a psychiatrist on a show that, like "Catch-22," often raised the question of exactly who in a war situation was crazy.
Freedman had a sarcastic, sometimes cynical tone, much like Alan Alda's surgeon Hawkeye Pierce.
Arbus guest-starred in many TV shows over the years, including "Taxi" and "Law & Order." His last appearance was in 2000 in "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
He came to television late, after many years as a photographer.
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Arbus poses with his daughter, photographer Amy Arbus, before her book signing in 2007.
Born in New York, he attended DeWitt Clinton High and City College. He left to take a job at Russek's department store, where he met Diane Nemerov, daughter of the store's owners.
They married in 1941, just before he enlisted in the military and served in the Signal Corps in Burma.
In 1946 the couple opened a photography studio and specialized in fashion photography for magazines such as Glamour and Seventeen.
Diane Arbus soon became more interested in portraits of marginalized and troubled people. She left the partnership in 1956 to devote herself full time to that pursuit, and her pictures remain widely exhibited today.
The Arbuses separated in 1959 and divorced a decade later. Diane Arbus committed suicide in 1971.
Allan Arbus by then had gone into acting, where he also had roles in movies that included "Cinderella Liberty" and "Coffy."
He married Mariclare Costello in the mid '70s. She survives him, as do Amy and two other daughters, Doon and Arin.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/m-s-h-actor-allan-arbus-dead-95-article-1.1325281
